Part 4

Socio-Economic Theories and Communism

The following must be guided and goaded towards the Supreme Self by remembering that the human body is a biological machine:

your social service
your socio-economic theories
your political life
your cultural life

If this is done, selfishness will not arise in the human mind.

But political parties and socio-economic organizations forget this fact, and so they guide the world adversely.

This is what happened to the Communist Party because they had no spiritual cult, no spiritual goal.

Thus, as long as communism exists, the world will continue to suffer.

Communism must go immediately or be removed without any delay.

The human body or human existence is a biological structure goaded by psychology, by certain vrttis [propensities]. Similarly, socio-economic life is a biological structure goaded by psychic urges and the different psycho-physical propensities; that is, it is goaded by psychology. So socio-economic life is also a biological structure.

It has to obey certain norms and rules.

The socio-economic structure of society is a biological structure goaded by psychic urges.

Karl Marx went against human psychic passion and urge when he said that property should be owned by the state, by communes.

Both our socio-economic life and the human biological structure are goaded by psychic urges – by fundamental psychic urges – by psychology.

Collective social life – socio-economic theory – and the human biological structure are both goaded by psychology, psychic urges, and psycho-physical passions and propensities.

These cannot be ignored, they cannot be neglected.

Our ambitions are something that push us from within to fulfil the demands of certain urges which have some clear-cut pabula. Urge is there; the initial sentiment, that is, the inborn instinct, is there. At the same time, there are certain fundamental socio-psycho-physical demands, passions and propensities. One must not forget this.

All socio-economic theories propagated in the past ignored this fundamental requirement of humans beings, and that is why they failed. Marxism is one such theory. This is the reason why it failed, but its failure is not a distinct or special case. The approach of socio-economic theories should not go against the approved structure of human requirements. Now those who once supported communism are themselves finding the reasons for the failure of Marxism and one of its branches, Euro-communism.

The spiritual thirst, the spiritual hunger, is also one of the subtle passions, the subtle propensities, of the human mind. In the múládhára cakra there are four propensities – dharma [psycho-spiritual longing], artha [psychic longing], káma [physical longing] and mokśa [spiritual longing]. So spiritual longing is a fundamental human urge.

Human beings cannot go against or deviate from the recognized path of the One who controls the thought-waves of the universe (Iishvara) – the recognized path or mainstream of human life. They cannot. For all theories, for all practices, for all cults – one cannot deviate from this fundamental path.

Urge is called utcetaná in Sanskrit. [Someone with an urge will set aside all obstacles and move ahead.] Suppose a man tells his friend that he wants to go to Calcutta, but his friend objects. If the man does not listen to any of these objections, pushes his friend aside and leaves for Calcutta, it is called “urge”.

Passion is called utvrtti in Sanskrit. [One who has a passion will threaten to take or even take physical action against those who place obstacles before him, and then move ahead.] If the man threatens his friend for trying to prevent him from going to Calcutta, it is called “passion”.

Propensity is called vrtti in Sanskrit. If the man asks his friend to accompany him to Calcutta because he has many desires and hopes that can only be fulfilled there, it is called vrtti.

Sentiment is called bhávapravanatá in Sanskrit. If the friend says, “Why do you want to go to Calcutta when it is always water-logged and congested? It will adversely affect your health. Listen to reason!” but still the man goes, this is called “sentiment”. The human psyche is guided by these four aspects. Socio-economic theory and cult have to adjust with them.

Take an example. The psychology of farmers is such that under normal circumstances they will never sell their land. Whenever a farmer donates a piece of land to someone it is usually out of pressure of circumstances or adherence to a high ideal. So any philosophy that preaches that all land belongs to the state goes against this basic aspect of human psychology. This is how the teachings of communism go against fundamental human psychology. Similarly, if a farmer is told by the authorities to give one thousand kilos of rice from his fields, he may give them, but if he is told to give them from his home, his wife may only give one hundred kilos. This is because she is accustomed to staying around the home, so her world is very small. Her psychology is also different from that of the authorities. So, although various groups of people have their own psychology, a socio-economic theory should not go against the fundamentals of human psychology.

You have got a human body. Make the best utilization of it. Forget everything of the past from this very moment.

Bigŕi jiivan anek hi sudhari janam áj Jay Rám ki Rám japu tulsi taju ku samáj. [Many of my past lives have gone in vain, but now my life is rectified. I will dedicate myself to the lotus feet of Rama and work for Rama, leaving all worldly attachments.]

This is for every one of you – the younger ones as well as the older ones. Go on working in such a way that you give your proper worth to society, and you bring about the actual evolution of humanity. Be a devotee of humanity as well as a devotee of Parama Puruśa. Let victory be with you.

20 July 1990, Calcutta

DHÁRAŃÁ. Restriction of the flow of mind, conception; e.g., Tattva Dhárańá means restricting the flow of mind to, or conception of, the fundamental factors. DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs. DHYÁNA. Meditation in which the psyche is directed towards Consciousness. DIDI. Literally, “elder sister”; may refer to an ÁCÁRYÁ of ANANDA MARGA. GURU MANTRA. “Important” mantra, learned as a lesson of Ananda Marga SÁDHANÁ. INDRIYA. One of the five sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) or five motor organs (hands, feet, vocal cord, genital organ and excretory organ). The eye indriya (for example) comprises the eye itself, the optical nerve, the fluid in the nerve, and the location in the brain at which the visual stimulus is transmitted to the ectoplasm, or mind-stuff. JIIVA. An individual being. JIIVÁTMÁ. See ÁTMÁ. JIṊÁNA. Knowledge; understanding. JIṊÁNII. A SÁDHAKA who follows the path of knowledge or discrimination. KARMA. Action. KARMII. A SÁDHAKA who follows the path of action or work. KIIRTANA. Collective singing of the name of the Lord, sometimes combined with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender. MARGI. A member of Ananda Marga. MÁYÁ. Creative Principle, PRAKRTI in Her phase of creation. One aspect of Máyá is the power to cause the illusion that the finite created objects are the ultimate truth. MOKŚA. Spiritual emancipation, non-qualified liberation. MUKTI. Spiritual liberation. OṊM. The sound of the first vibration of creation; the biija mantra (acoustic root) of the expressed universe. Oṋḿkára literally means “the sound oṋm”. OTA YOGA. The association of PURUŚOTTAMA with each unit creation individually in PRATISAIṊCARA. PARAMA PURUŚA. Supreme Consciousness. PARAMÁTMÁ, PARAMÁTMAN. Supreme Consciousness in the role of witness of His own Macropsychic conation. Paramátman comprises: (1) PURUŚOTTAMA, the Macrocosmic Nucleus; (2) Puruśottama’s association with all creation in His extroversive movement (prota yoga); and (3) Puruśottama’s association with each unit creation individually (ota yoga) and (4) with all collectively (prota yoga) in His introversive movement. PRAKRTI, PARAMÁ PRAKRTI. Cosmic Operative Principle. PROTA YOGA. The association of PURUŚOTTAMA with all creation in His extroversive movement and with all the unit creations collectively in His introversive movement. PURUŚOTTAMA, PARAMASHIVA. The Nucleus Consciousness, the witness of saiṋcara (extroversion from the Nucleus) and pratisaiṋcara (introversion to the Nucleus). SÁDHAKA. Spiritual practitioner. SÁDHANÁ. Literally, “sustained effort”; spiritual practice; meditation. SAMÁDHI. “Absorption” of the unit mind into the Cosmic Mind (savikalpa samádhi) or into the ÁTMAN (nirvikalpa samádhi). SAḾSKÁRA. Mental reactive momentum, potential mental reaction. SANNYÁSII m. or SANNYÁSINII f. Literally, “one who has surrendered one’s everything to the Cosmic will” or “one who ensconces oneself in Sat, the unchangeable entity”; a renunciant. SHAKTI. PRAKRTI; energy; a deification of Prakrti. SHÁSTRA. Scripture. SHIVA. A great Tantric guru of 5000 BCE who guided society while His mind was absorbed in Consciousness; hence, Infinite Consciousness, PURUŚA. TANTRA. A spiritual tradition which originated in India in prehistoric times and was first systematized by SHIVA. It emphasizes the development of human vigour, both through meditation and through confrontation of difficult external situations, to overcome all fears and weaknesses. Also, a scripture expounding that tradition. VEDA. Literally, “knowledge”; hence, a composition imparting spiritual knowledge. Also, a religious or philosophical school which originated among the Aryans and was brought by them to India. It is based on the Vedas and emphasizes the use of ritual to gain the intervention of the gods. VIDYÁ. Centripetal, or introversial, force; force of attraction to the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the crude to the subtle. See also AVIDYÁ. VIVEKA. Conscience, power of discrimination between good and evil. YOGA. Spiritual practice leading to unification of the unit ÁTMAN with PARAMÁTMAN.

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